Brussels, 05/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - With less than a month to go until COP 21 (Paris, 30 November -11 December), Eurostat, the European Union's Statistics Office, published a range of progress indicators to clarify the EU's real situation involving its efforts to tackle climate change.
The fall in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) for each country and in the EU between 1990 and 2012; the share of the railways and performance of terrestrial passenger transport in the different member states and at an EU level, as well as in primary energy consumption, renewable energies, the performance of member states in reaching their renewable energy targets for 2020 are also included in these indicators.
Eurostat statistics demonstrate that: - between 1990 and 2012 the largest reductions in greenhouse gas emissions were in the Baltic EU member states and Romania and at an EU level, emissions were 17.9% below 1990 levels so the EU is now confident of achieving its EUROPE 2020 target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20% in 2020. Between 2003 and 2013, the share of rail in inland passenger transport performance rose in a majority of member states (it rose from 6.7% to 7.6% in the EU) while it fell for freight transport (from 18.3% to 17.8% in the EU); 20 countries had already reached the required level in 2013 to reach their energy consumption targets by 2020, while Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and the United Kingdom displayed primary energy consumption that was still above their respective targets.
Since 2004, the share of renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy grew significantly in all member states, with thirteen member states having at least doubled their share of renewables over the last 10 years. With 52.1%, Sweden had by far in 2013 the highest share of energy from renewable sources in its gross final consumption of energy. Sweden, Bulgaria, Estonia and Lithuania had already reached the required level for the 2020 targets. These statistics are accessible online: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-press-releases/-/8-04112015-BP (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)